(PS4-B39) Too Much or Too Little Social Support? The Contribution of Social Support Adequacy to Depression and PTSD Symptoms in Aid Workers

Context. Aid workers are subjected to unusual work demands and numerous stressors. In fact, they report significant lifestyle changes and increased stressors when on assignment. As a result, maintaining a healthy network of supportive relationships outside of work might represent a challenge and require significant flexibility on the part of loved ones. Yet, there has been little research on the support aid workers receive from their loved ones, or on how it relates to their mental health. Therefore, this study examined the contribution of four types of social support adequacy variables (i.e., informational, emotional, tangible, and physical support) on symptoms of depression and PTSD. Each type was examined according to the degree of underprovision (receiving less support than what is desired) and overprovision (receiving more support than what is desired). Investigating the contribution of specific types of social support is important as it allows for a more precise understanding of how social support adequacy relates to mental health outcomes. Method. A sample of 186 aid workers completed measures of social support adequacy and of PTSD and depression symptoms via an online survey. Two three-step hierarchical regression models were run to explain symptoms of depression and PTSD: 1) age and gender, 2) potentially traumatic exposure and number of assignments, and 3) overprovision and underprovision of 4 forms of social support (i.e., informational, emotional, tangible and physical). Results. Clinical levels of depression were reported by 24.2% and clinical levels of PTSD in 20.9% of sample. The overall hierarchical regression models explained 16.1% of depression and 29.5% of PTSD symptoms. Of this, the social support adequacy variables explained 9.8% of variance of depression symptoms and 13.5% of PTSD symptoms. More precisely, undeprovision of support did not significantly relate to outcomes with the exception of underproviding informational support which was significantly associated with more symptoms of PTSD (B_ptsd = .180). On the other hand, many significant relationships were found between overprovision variables and outcomes. Overproviding emotional (B_dep = .415; B_ptsd = .396) and informational (B_dep = .161; B_ptsd = .209) support were significantly associated to more severe symptoms of both depression and PTSD. Further, overproviding tangible support was significantly associated to fewer symptoms (B_dep = -.344; B_ptsd = -.359). Conclusions. To date, few studies have considered how underprovision and overprovision of social support both relate differently to mental health outcomes. In fact, inadequate support has mostly been conceptualized as receiving too little support. However, our results suggest that unwanted support may be a greater risk factor for depression and PTSD than insufficient support. This might reflect a need to withdraw socially where one might not wish to receive any support at all (e.g., preferring to cope with the problem by withdrawing). Future studies should investigate how support overprovision might relate to other forms of psychological distress (e.g., anxiety) or how other variables (e.g., guilt, shame) might contribute to overprovision’s detrimental association with PTSD and depression.